Roasted pepper and halloumi quinoa salad

"What did the cheese say when it looked in the mirror?"

"Hallouuuumi"

I not only love a good pun but I also love food that tastes incredible but is also pretty good for you. This not only ticks both boxes but also came about as a mad-panic supper using things I found in the cupboard. So I feel even more smug.

For a big bowl of roasted pepper and halloumi quinoa salad (which will serve 4 as a supper, or of course more if it's going to be one of a number of salads!) you will need:

1 red onion

4 pepper slices from a jar of peppers (or 1 whole pepper if you can only come across whole ones)

1 long fresh pepper

7 cherry tomatoes

300g quinoa

800ml boiling water with a vegetable stock cube dissolved in it (if you use a gluten free one this salad is suitable for coeliacs)

1 lemon

2 pre-cooked beetroots

A pack of halloumi

Start by dicing the red onion and cutting up the jarred pepper, fresh pepper and cherry tomatoes into little chunks. Using a little oil from the jarred peppers, soften the vegetables.

Once the vegetables are nice a soft, pour the quinoa into the pan and coat with the oil and vegetables, tossing it all together for about 3 minutes.

Pour in the stock and give the pan a stir to ensure nothing sticks at the bottom. Leave to cook for about 25 minutes (until all the liquid has reduced and the quinoa is soft), giving the pan a regular stir.

While the quinoa is cooking you can make the dressing. Pour a little (1-2tbsp) of the jarred pepper oil into a dish and add to it the juice and zest of a lemon plus a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt. Put to one side.

Slice up the beetroots into little cubes and put in the serving bowl. Slice the halloumi up and grill. Add these to the serving bowl too.

Once the quinoa is soft and the stock has reduced to very little liquid add this to the serving bowl. Give everything a good stir and pour the dressing over the top. Serve it up and dig in!

Comments

Elderflower and white chocolate shortbread

Anyone that knows me will know how obsessed I am with elderflower cordial. For that reason I thought it was about time I started incorporating it into my baking. I found a lovely recipe on Wallflower Girl's blog and decided to give it a go. It was originally going to be a white chocolate and elderflower combination but there was a lonely lemon that I thought would make these even more of a springtime treat. I managed 2 cake tins worth of shortbread, which equated to 16 slices. To make elderflower and white chocolate shortbread you will need: 250g butter 100g caster sugar 2 tbsp elderflower cordial 1/2 tsp vanilla extract The rind of 1 lemon 300g plain flour 100g chopped white chocolate Preheat your oven to 180C and prepare your baking tins. I went for 2 silicon cake tins to get the classic shortbread eighths but you're welcome to go for a square tin and create fingers...cut out rounds...whatever you fancy! You'll just need to increase the cooking time ...

Frozen yogurt breakfast bowl

I feel as if Instagram and Pinterest are awash with photos of breakfast bowls containing ingredients I just can't get my hands on in Wales (mail order acai berries anyone?) I did want to jump on the trend bandwagon however and so have been enjoying frozen yogurt breakfast bowls instead (sprinkled with some homemade granola of course - this batch has cashews rather than ginger in though). I make this in my smoothie maker - anything with the ability to blitz frozen fruit will do. I can thoroughly recommend this as a breakfast to get you kick-started in spring! To make 1 portion of frozen yogurt breakfast bowl you will need: A handful of frozen berries - the major supermarkets do this really well 1 banana 1 tablespoon of greek yogurt A splash of milk From experience of multiple attempts at this, you need to order the ingredients in the blender so that the banana and yogurt are nearest the blade (to create a kind of paste) with the frozen berries ...

Beetroot soda bread

This is a super-simple loaf to make when you don't want to wait hours for it to prove. I love the pink-hue you get from adding beetroot to this loaf. It is a good loaf to make to use up the dregs of bags of flour. Beetroot soda bread Makes 1 loaf 300g beetroot (I used vacuum packed) 1 tsp fennel seeds 100ml plain full-fat yogurt 400g flour (I used 300g plain white and 100g wholemeal flour) 1 tsp sea salt 2 tsp baking powder 50g seeds (I used sesame) Preheat the oven to 220C. Puree the beetroot with the fennel and yogurt in a food processor until smooth. Mix the flour with the sea salt, baking powder and seeds. Fold the liquid beetroot mixture through this. As it comes together you can form into a ball with your hands but do not work too much or the finished loaf will be tough. Scatter some flour on a baking tray and place your ball of dough on top. You can add some more seeds to the top. Dust with flour and cut a deep cross into the top of...

Classic Caggs

Search This Blog